Modification of b. a.-type wool



Patented Dec. 19, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT orrlcs;

MODIFICATION OF B. A.-TYPE WOOL Stuart E. Swanson, Sufiield, Conn,assignor to Bigelow-Sanford Carpet 00., llnc., Thompsonville, Conn, acorporation of. Massachusetts No Drawing. Application February'10,'1949,Serial No. 75,739

3 Claims.

. ture of pile floor coverings.

Hitherto it ha not been. possible, because of their. soft slipperynature and their tendency to create static, to process these B. A.-typewools by conventional carpet manufacturing'machines and procedures asthepile. of rugs and carpets or to mix desired quantities of such woolwith the harsher and coarser wools in such manufacture.

I have discovered; that by treating these soft, silk-like, lustrous,slippery B. A.-type Wools with a dilute aqueoussolutionof a zirconylcompound, preferably in a bath containing the zirconyl compound, thefibers of these wools are rendered harsher, coarser and fuller orbushier so that they may be handled by the methods conventional in thecarpet manufacturing industry; in which methods the coarser and hardierconventional carpet wools are used. Also, at the same time, the lustreof said fibers, which is undersirable in conventional domestic rugs andcarpets, is decreased.

An example of my treatment is as follows: A batch of raw B. A. woolstock weighing about 900 pounds is immersed in a dilute aqueous solutionof 18 pounds of sodium zirconyl sulfate dissolved in about 4,000 gallonsof water. The bath is brought to the boil and the W001 exposed to theaction or" the hot sodium zirconyl sulfate solution, during whichoperation the wool Will absorb substantially the entire zirconylcompound content of the bath. If desired, the liquid may be brought tothe boil before the sodium zirconyl sulfate is added.

Conveniently, the wool may be subjected to the treatment of thisinvention concurrently with the dyeing of the wool. The followingexample illustrates treatment of the wool in this way:

The wool, preferably in raw stock form, is immersed in the dye-bath andsubjected to the normal dyeing operation, in which the bath is broughtto the boil and the wool exposed to the action of the hot dye liquor. Asthe dyeing operation nears completion, that is when only about fifteenminutes more are required to complete the dyeing, a concentratedsolution of sodium zirconyl sulfate is added to the bath in an amountandconcentration such as to provide in. the bath about 2% of sodium.zirconyl-sulfate. basedeon the weight of the wool. The dyeing operationis continued, with boiling of the bath, for about fifteen minutes,duringwhich time. the woolwill absorb-substantially the entire zirconylcompound content of the bath. If desired, the sodiumzirconyl. sulfate,may be added to the bath before the wool is entered, or before the bathis brought to the boil. The zirconyl compounds used, in the. presentinvention. are compatible with all types of dyes.

The duration of the boiling treatment. in. the presence of the zirconylcompound may extend from approximately 10 minutes toabout an .hour.

The amount of the zirconylcompoundpresent in the treating bath may bevaried, depending upon the temperature and the duration. of thetreatment and. upon the extent of the modification desired: in the wool,butthe bath. should be sufficiently dilute to cause substantialionization and hydrolysis of. the zirconyl compound, When the treatmentis carried out as a batch operation, as in: the batch process described,amounts of zirconyl. compound ranging. from 4 to. 10%, of the weight ofthe wool, preferably about 2%, have been found to give good results.

The modification of raw wool stock or the yarn also may be effected byuse of a cold solution, containing the zirconyl compound, by allowingthe wool to remain standing therein for a sumcient period of time. Insuch case the bath may be substantially exhausted of zirconyl compoundand the zirconyl compound may be present in an amount ranging from /8 to10% of the weight of the wool, preferably about 2%. When the zirconylcontent of the bath is about /8% to 10%, based on the wool, exhaustionmay .be obtained at room temperature in about 48 hours. The same resultscan be obtained in shorter time by increasing the temperature or theconcentration of the bath, preferably the temperature.

When the wool is treated with the zirconyl compound by the foregoingprocedures, the zirconyl compound is completely or substantiallycompletely exhausted from the treating bath and the amount of thecompound absorbed by the wool is controlled by the amount of compound inthe bath.

Another mode of treatment is to treat the wool with the zirconylcompound as a continuous operation in a moving stream of treatingliquid. Thus the wool may be treatee as it i subjected to the rinsingoperation which normally follows the scouring operation in thepreparation of wool fibers for use in pile fabric floor coverings. Thisprocedure is particularly useful with wools which are not to be dyed butare to be manufactured into yarn of their natural color. In many casesthe rinsing following the scouring operation is carried out with waterat a temperature of about 140-l60 F., although rinsing at anytemperature between room temperature and the boiling point may beemployed. The zirconyl compound content of the rinse bath I shouldapproximate to 10%, preferably about 2%, of the weight of the Wool. Thewool is passed through the rinsing tank in a continuous operation andthe zirconyl compound therefore must be continually supplied to the tankto maintain the desired concentration of the compound therein. For thispurpose any appropriate, constantrate feeding means may be employed.

Other zirconyl compounds which I have found to be effective in modifyingthe wool in the same way as sodium zirconyl sulfate are zirconylsulfate, zirconyl formate, zirconyl acetate, and ammonium zirconylcarbonate.

The wool so treated may be spun into yarn, which, as well as yarn sotreated, may be then woven as the pile of pile floor coverings. Suchpile has a coarse, harsh texture and a lack of lustre very difierentfrom the texture and lustre of the untreated wool. The pile of thecarpets made with my treated wool has the harshness,

coarseness, lack of lustre and plumpness of the coarser woolsconventionally used as the pile of pile floor coverings.

My treatment may be applied to the skeined wool yarn before, during, orafter dyeing as well as to the raw stock.

Wool treated by my process may be mixed with conventional carpet woolsin all proportions to give a wool mixture suitable for use in forming Ithe pile of pile-fabric floor coverings.

By the term B. A.-type wool as used herein, I mean wool having thecharacteristics of B. A.

f wool as regards its soft, slippery nature, its

luster and its lack of harshness and fullness as contrasted with theconventional carpet wools.

I use the term B. A. wool in its ordinary meaning in the trade, 1. e.,wool from the Lincoln-type sheep as grown in South America. The B. A.type wools available today consist primarily of B. A. wool and wool fromthe Lincoln sheep as grown in New Zealand.

This application i a continuation-in-part of m application Serial No.780,111, filed October 15, 1947, now abandoned.

I claim:

1. The process for enhancing the harshness and fullness and decreasingthe luster of B. A.- type wool which comprises treating the wool with aliquid consisting essentially of a dilute aqueous solution of a zirconylcompound in an amount between and 10% by weight of the wool.

The process as in claim 1 in which the Wool is immersed in a bath of thetreating liquid for from 10 to 60 minutes at the boil.

3. The process as in claim 2 in which lower than boiling temperaturesand longer periods of time are used.

STUART E. SWANSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS OTHER REFERENCES Hauser, Impregnation of SpinningFibers With Compounds of Zirconium. Deutsche Farberzeitung, 1915, page482.

1. THE PROCESS FOR ENHACING THE HARSHNESS AND FULLNESS AND DECREASINGTHE LUSTER OF B.ATYPE WOOL WHICH COMPRISES TREATING THE WOOL WITH ALIQUID CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF A DILUTE AQUEOUS SOLUTION OF A ZIRCONYLCOMPOUND IN AN AMOUNT BETWEEN 1/8% AND 10% BY WEIGHT OF THE WOOL.